Today marks the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand - the act that would ultimately spark the outbreak of the First World War.

The Manchester Evening News reported the death of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne in the following day’s edition on Monday 29 June, 1914.

“All the capitals of Europe were thrilled yesterday afternoon by another Imperial tragedy - the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife,” the page six article read.

“The Archduke, nephew of the Emperor Franz Joseph and heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was on a visit to Sarajevo (the capital of the lately annexed province of Bosnia) in connection with army manoeuvres.

“As he drove through a street with his wife, the Duchess of Hohenburg, a bomb was thrown. Their Imperial Highnesses escaped, but six other persons were wounded.

“The Imperial procession went on, and later two shots were fired from a Browning revolver. The Archduke and Duchess were instantly killed.”

The shots were fired by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip.

The Manchester Evening News that reported the murder of the Archduke

Reporting his arrest, the 1914 article describes the assassin only as “a Serbian student in his teens, who had been banished from Bosnia”.

It adds that he was “almost lynched” along with the man who threw the bomb, “a compositor from the little-fortified town of Trebinje, in Herzegovina”. Both were members of the Serbian Black Hand group.

The report also notes that the episode “adds to the gravity of the race problem within the Empire and to the uncertainty of the future of the Dual Monarchy”.

But it could not foresee the chain of events it would ultimately set in motion.

A month later, on July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia - and the two countries’ allies swiftly followed suit.

An estimated 18 million people lost their lives in the unprecedented global conflict that was fought over the next four years.

Nations across the world have today been commemorating the Archduke’s killing, with a series of concerts, speeches, lectures and exhibitions in Bosnia.